Art of joining railway-rails of differential size



Patented Jan. 3, I899,

A. A. STRDWI. ART OF JOINING RAILWAY RAILS 0F DIFFERENTIAL SIZE.

(No Model.)

Ilnrrnn Snares rrrcnt AXEI. A. STROM, OF AUSTIN, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO TIIE STROM MANU- FACTURING COMPANY,

OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

ART OF JOINING RAILWAY-RAILS OF DIFFERENTIAL SIZE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters-Patent No. 617,059, dated January 3, 1899.

Application filed September 21, 1898.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AXEL A. STROM, a citizon of the United States, residing at Austin, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Art of Joining Railway-Rails of Differential Size, of which the following is a specification.

In supplanting in any portion of a railwaytrack rails of smaller size or section with larger-size rails difiiculty is experienced in making the joint where a larger rail meets a smaller one. The joint, which is end to end and therefore necessarily objectionable because of the unevenness and lack of smoothness which result from it in the track, is commonly made with offset angle-bars, offset fishplates, step-chairs, and the like, which are more or less difficult of adjustment and render the construction costly.

My object is to provide as a specific adaptation of the invention set forth in my application, Serial No. 691,512, filed concurrently herewith, a construction of joint for rails of differential section whereby the end-toend connection and its attendant objections and all angle-bars, fish-plates, step-chairs, and the like, with the consequent cost and difficulty attending their use, shall be entirely dispensed with and a permanently even and smooth joint afforded. This I accomplish by the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan view showing the end portions of two railway-track rails of differ ential size joined together in accordance with my improvement; Fig. 2, a view of the same in side elevation, showing the ties disposed at different elevations,according to the planes of the bases of the different sizes of rails bearing upon them; Fig. 3, a section taken at the line 3 on Fig. 1 and viewed in the direction of the arrow; and Fig. 4c, a view like that presented by Fig. 3, but showing a modification.

A and A denote rails of differential size. To join two such rails in accordance with my improvement, one of them, as the larger rail A, has its end portion 1" bent to a desired angle outward,(with reference to the inner side of the rail when in the track,) but without diminution of its cross-sectional area, so that Serial No. 691,511. (No model.)

it is of the same dimensions in crosssection as the body of the rail, and an end portion r of the other rail A is bent slightly in the opposite or inner direction and has the outer side of the head-section 13 upon it planed off to form the bevel o, and preferably, also, the inner side of the head slightly beveled, as shown at o. The two rail ends 0" andr are brought together to overlap each other, with the beveled side 0 fitting against the adjacent side of the rail-head section 19 on the end portion 0. To permit this, it may, de pending upon the relative size of the smaller rail, be necessary to remove a section of its outer flange 0 and bevel off the base, as shown at 0, thus adapting the base of the smaller rail to rest on the inner flange '21 of the end portion r of the larger rail, or if the rail A be so much smaller than the rail A that with the tops of the heads of their end portions 011 the same plane the base of the smaller will not reach to the flange of the larger a fillingblock m may be fitted in the space between said base and flange and riveted to the base of the smaller rail, as shown in Fig. 4.

With the end portions of the two rails A and A brought together in the manner described they are rigidly fastened together, as by bolts Z, passed through their webs 7t and 71; and through washers k inserted against the outer side of the web of the end portion 0'. The purpose of the rigid fastening is to securely hold the two end portions laterally together; but they may have slight longitudinal movement one with relation to the other to allow for contraction and elongation under the effect of temperature. 7

The bevel c on the end portion of the rail A could be made at an angle corresponding with that of the end portion r of the other rail, so as to cause the point at so to aline or gage with the head of the main straight section of the rail A; but as this would cause the cut to be made through the web 7a it is preferred to form less of a bevel on the side o and provide the slight supplementary bevel e on the opposite side of the head 13, thereby avoiding impairment of the supporting effect of the web.

As the bases of the smaller rails occupy a higher plane than those of the larger ones, the

ties B for the former are raised above the ties B for the latter, as indicated in Fig. 2.

While not so practicable, it would be within my invention to construct my improved joint with the bent end portion r on the smaller rail and the beveled end portion 0" on the larger rail.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A rail-joint for rails of differential size, comprising the outwardly-bent end portion 7", undiminished in cross-section, of a larger rail A and the inwardly-bent beveled end portion r of a smaller rail A overlapping and fitting against said end portion 1 and rigidly fastened thereto and bearing at its base upon theinner flange of said end portion 9, substantially as described.

2. A rail-joint for rails of differential size, comprising the outwardly-bent end portion 1", undiminished in cross-section, of a larger rail A and the inwardly-bent beveled end portioii 7" of a smaller rail A overlapping and fitting against said end portion 0" and rigidly fastened thereto, anda filling-block inserted and fastened between the base of the beveled end portion and inner flange n of the rail end por 

